Under the Sea Party Ideas

The beach is cool and fun, but you have to admit that what’s beyond it is more exciting and enticing. The sea hides many mysterious and intriguing things, and if you ask many people, they’d give anything just to enjoy its sights. Nothing can be more fantastic than an under the sea trip.

Since you just love the ocean and all things related to it, you wish there’s some way to enjoy it without too much hassle. If you’re birthday’s coming up, or if you just want to host a fun event, here’s a great idea: throw an under the sea celebration. It’s a unique deviation from the typical parties.

An under the sea party works for any occasion. Whether you’re having a kiddie or adult party, a casual birthday or even an extravagant wedding, this theme will work well. It just takes a bit of planning and some creativity.

Here are some under the sea ideas you can try. Try them and have a whale of a time!

Before You Start Planning

The great thing about an under the sea party is you can try endless ideas to make the celebration more exciting. If you want broader options, you can have a general under the sea theme. This will allow you to use various resources and party items, as long as they are sea or beach-themed. A general party theme also lets you be as creative as you want.

If you want to make things easier for you, you can also base your party on a movie or story that has an under the sea plot. Disney’s Movies like The Little Mermaid and Finding Nemo, DreamWorks’ Shark Tale, or Jules Verne 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea are great choices. The advantage of this is you already know what you’re looking for. When you’re scouting for décor or invitations, or planning party food, you won’t have too much difficulty since you know what items you’re going to choose.

The main characters from Finding Nemo

Lenny and the others in Shark Tale

If you’ve decided on a particular theme, you can now begin planning the celebration.

Fishy Invitations

An under the sea invitation design

One of the first factors to remember for your under the sea theme is the invitation. It’s important to let your guests know about the under the sea adventure that awaits them, so they’ll be enticed to join the celebration. Send the invites as early as a couple of weeks before the event. This will give everyone ample time to prepare for the party.

If you’re in a rush, or you just don’t have a creative or artsy streak in you, you can simply pop into a party supply store and grab ready-made invitations with fishy or under the sea prints on them. There are many options to choose from with different designs and patterns. They can be elegant or cutesy, and simple or very detailed. You can just choose according to your party atmosphere.

Underwater animals for your invitations

While ready-made invitations look fantastic, there are people who let their imagination run wild and opt for creative invites. If you’ve got enough art in you, you can try making your own homemade. Easy options include making cutouts of sea creatures (starfish, shells, fish, whale, shark) from colored cardboard and printing the party details on them. You can also print out pictures of underwater scenery and write the details behind. You can write “The sea awaits you to join the fun party!”.

Here’s another cool idea. Print the party details on green paper, then roll them up and tie with “seaweed” (green ribbon or raffia). Place them inside clear glass bottles and add some glitter and sand inside. Seal with a cork., then mail or hand-deliver to the guests.

One great idea is to use blue tag boards for the invitation. Write the details on them and put inside a small Ziploc bag. Add a bit of confetti, sand and shells inside, then seal it. You can also laminate the board, and put clear water before sealing the Ziploc, for a more ocean-like effect.

Be creative when wording your invitations. Creative wordings make the party more enticing and your invites more fun to look at. For example, if you’re having a Nemo theme, you can write “Great news! Nemo has been found! Come celebrate his return with the whole underwater gang at ___’s birthday party!”

An Under The Sea Ambiance

Now that you’ve decided to have a underwater party adventure, you now have to create an ocean atmosphere so everyone will feel the theme better. Here are some ideas you can try for a fun-filled event.

An underwater tablecloth design

Think of the colors of the ocean and use them as your motif. Blue and silver or blue and green, are great. Get confetti, streamers, and balloons in these hues.

Do you have a pool at home? Have the party right beside the sparkling water. You can also turn your under the sea party into a pool party. Just make sure you inform your guests to bring their swimsuits.

Make an underwater scenery mural. Cover one wall with ocean-blue paper and lay out different kinds of coloring materials. When your guests arrive, tell them they’re welcome to draw any kind of under the sea image on it.

Cover the lights in the room with blue or blue-green cellophane paper. It’ll give the room an underwater hue.

Use blue or turquoise tablecloths for the tables.

The kids enjoying the pool

Cover one wall with fishnet.

Hang green seaweed of different lengths from the ceilings or walls. These can be made of crepe paper or curly ribbons.

Get pictures and posters of sea creatures and put them around the place. If you have sea creature stuffed toys or figurines, you can also use them. They can be lovely table centerpieces.

Another great centerpiece idea is to get small fish bowls with a few gold fishes in it. Your guests will find it delightful watching the fishes swimming while they’re savoring the party snacks. After the event, you can give them away to the guests.

Costumes For Underwater Fun

A cute nemo costume

Many people simply let their guests don casual attire for their party, but if you want to make your celebration more special, you can ask them to dress up in fun party costumes. Make your under the sea party a costume party, and ask everyone to come dressed in their best underwater creature costume. They can come in mermaid, fish, crab, and even sea monster costumes. Just make sure everyone’s well-informed of the dress code, by noting it in the invitations.

You can also ask everyone to dress up Hawaiian-style. Let them wear their favorite swimsuits, beach shorts and tropical shirts. You can also provide them with flower garlands to wear around their necks.

If it’s a kiddie party you’re having, and you don’t want the kids to have a difficult time planning for the party, you can just distribute plastic beach goggles to wear during the party. Tell them they have to wear these before they go “underwater”. They can also take the goggles home after the event, as simple party favors.

Under The Sea Games

Your guests will expect under the sea fun during your celebration, so make sure you satisfy their energetic and excited moods. Here are some fun games you can enjoy during the party. Make sure everyone joins in!

Pin The Tail On The Whale – If everyone is familiar with Pin the Tail On the Donkey, then they’ll know the mechanics of this game. Just prepare a large whale picture, several whale tails made from cardboard and a few blindfold. You can also create different versions for this game like Pin the Fin on The Dolphin or Pin The Leg On The Octopus, or Pin The Claw On The Crab. As long as it’s related to the sea, it will suit the party.

Kids playing the turtle race

Turtle Race – This game is inspired by the animated movie Finding Nemo. Remember how Marlin and Dory rode on the backs of turtles on the East Australian Current to get to Nemo? The participants will do the same. First, make an East Australian Current track. This is where they will have the race. Pair them up, and when you give the signal, one of them must carry the other on their back. The first pair that reaches the end of the track wins.

Shark Tag – This is best enjoyed by kids. Make a headband with a shark fin on it. Pick one kid to be “It” and let him wear the headband. When you say go, he must run around and catch a fish (the other guests). When he catches one, that fish becomes a shark and wears the fin headband.

The Beanbag Fish Toss – Get small goodies, prizes or candies and divide them in three or four pails. Put these against the walls. Then, make two fish-shaped beanbags for the guests to throw. Let them line up a few meters away from the pails. One by one, let them toss the beanbag at whatever pail they want to. When their beanbag lands on a pail, they can choose any prize inside it.

Enjoying a fun game of jelly fish jump

Jelly Fish Jump – This is another Nemo-inspired game. You’ll need several hula hoops for this game, at least three to four pieces. Put then on the ground. Tell everyone that these aren’t hoops, but are jelly fishes. They must jump from one jelly fish to another, the same way Dory and Marlin did in the movie. If their feet lands on the inside of the hoop, they’re safe, but if they don’t, they are stung, and are out of the game. At first, lay the hoops at a short distance from each other. After every round, increase the distance. The winner is the person who gets through all the rounds without being stung.

Octopus Alert – Kids and adults will both love this outdoor party game. Just make sure they don’t mind being soaked. You’ll need plenty of water balloons for this game. First, choose a person to be the octopus. Everyone will stand around him. When the signal is given, they start tossing a water balloon between them, back and forth, while the octopus in the middle tries to pop or bat it out of the circle. If the octopus manages to do either of these, the player who threw the balloon last is out of the game. The last one standing in the game wins.

Seeing And Serving Sea Food

After all the fun, games and merrymaking, your guests will be looking for savory treats to curb their hunger. You must serve a banquet filled with delightful snacks to satisfy everyone’s appetite.

It’s a great idea to serve seafood. This works best if you’re catering for an older audience, like teens and adults. You can prepare many delicious seafood recipes like:

Seafood Pasta Salad

Tuna Finger Sandwiches

Fish And Chips

Tuna Or Crabmeat Casserole

Shrimp Cocktails

Seafood is great, but if you’ve got young kids at your party, they might not enjoy it much. Your best option is to prepare treats that look like seafood, but are made from different kinds of food items. Make sure you label them properly, so the kids will know what they are.

Love Pasta? Check out this Seafood Pasta recipe.

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Turtle Eggs – Fry breaded meatballs and serve them with a yummy dip. It’s a tasty appetizer kids will love.

Octopus-Dogs – You need plain hot dogs for this. First, cut all the hot dogs in half, but not all the way, just enough to let them open. Then, slice them halfway up four times on each half, so there are eight dangling sections. Put the hot dogs in boiling water.

Cool fish-shaped sandwiches

The dangling sections will curl up like arms and look like mini-octopuses.

Underwater Gelatin – Make some blueberry-flavored Jello, and before it sets, add some gummy fish and sharks in the mold. When you’re ready to serve it, put some sea foam (whipped cream) on the surface. A tasty dessert kids will enjoy.

Ocean-Blue Punch – A day before the party, make some grape or blueberry juice. Then, get ice molds and place a gummy fish or shark in each cube. Pour the juice and let it freeze overnight. At the party, prepare some green punch and pour them in clear glasses. Before serving, add a gummy ice cube in the glass.

One last tip: Serve your dishes and food in under the sea theme containers. If it’s a kiddie party, use clean beach buckets and plastic shovels. If it’s for adult, find shell-shaped glass containers or party utensils with under the sea designs printed on them. These will add a lovely look to your party spread.

Going Back To The Shore

Nice under the sea party favors

No matter how much fun it is, you have to eventually go back to shore and wrap up your underwater celebration. Before the guests dry themselves up, make sure they have a little something to remember the fun party they had.

For adults, you can give out beach-relateditems like flip-flops, or figurine decorations of different party creatures. Glass coasters with prints of different sea creatures or candles shaped like shells are also delightful giveaways.

If your guests are kids, you can prepare simple goody bags. Fill these up with sea creature key chains, fish squirts, gummy worms and candies, plastic starfishes, goggles, and a fish card game and you’re all set. To make it more fun, place these in small beach pails.

Who says leaving dry land isn’t fun? With an enjoyable under the sea theme, you’ll forget the typical parties you have. So, go ahead, try these ideas and dive into a fun-filled celebration!